Governance is made up of many different, but equally important elements. These all need to work well together if your nation, group, community or organisations are going to be effective.
Culture is at the heart of every society’s governance arrangements and this is also true for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
For Indigenous governance to be effective it is not enough to simply cherry pick and import foreign governance structures and processes into communities, and expect those communities to function effectively within those arrangements.
To be meaningful to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, the component parts of governance must reflect important relationships, networks, values and ways of behaving.
The challenge is to craft arrangements that incorporate both the Indigenous requirement for cultural legitimacy, as well as meeting the governance requirements of the wider non-Indigenous society.
THE IMPORTANT PARTS OF GOVERNANCE
These all need to work well together if a group or organisation are going to be effective.
Your people | · community · members · nation · families · leaders · managers · staff |
Your processes | · rules · laws · powers · procedures · roles and responsibilities |
Your strategies | · plans · goals · milestones · programs · functions |
Your resources | · infrastructure · technology · funding · capital (cultural, social, economic) · natural assets |
Your culture | · values · worldview · traditions · behaviour |
Your wider environment | · networks · other groups · other communities, government · organisations · institutions |
